CP #5 Dana

      For our final meeting before the break, I introduced Jeehoon to another favorite coffee shop of mine, Atomic Coffee. He loved it, of course, and enthusiastically took a seat in one of the burgundy armchairs that coupled a lamp and small wooden table.

     I asked Jeehoon about his plans for the holidays and he responded with little interest. He wasn’t doing much. However, the next weekend he was going to visit a friend of his that lives in Atlanta by Greyhound bus. There is a very large South Korean community in Atlanta, and he is very excited to eat some more authentic food.

       South Korean food, he said, is pitiful in Tallahassee. He does like the city though despite the lack of food because there are so many different opportunities. On certain occasions however, he does miss his family and friends. I asked if his family may visit, and he said they wouldn’t and that he doesn’t want them to. I was surprised by his answer.

     “Why wouldn’t you want your family to visit?” I asked. He laughed and told me that it was because he lived with two girl roommates. His parents had absolutely no idea and they would be extremely upset. And, his mom would apparently ask too many questions. If his parents call while he is inside the house, he runs outside to speak to them because his house sounds, “too girly.”

      Of all of the reasons for family not to visit, that was the last I expected. But hey, at least he doesn’t get in trouble.

       At the end of our coffee outing, I told Jeehoon to have an excellent and safe trip, as well as to enjoy the break. He wished the same for me in return and we went our separate ways. I have a feeling we’ll end up running into each other after the break. He’s such a coffee fiend, like me. 

CP #4 Dana

    Since the two of us were hanging out on campus and needed a break from schoolwork, Jeehoon and I decided to grab some lunch. He was in a Chik-fil-a mood, craving a milkshake. We collected our orders, chicken tenders for me along with a chocolate shake and a sandwich milkshake combo for Jeehoon, and wandered down to Landis Green.

     As we ate our lunch, Jeehoon discussed his hobby of breeding fish while he was in South Korea. He was very into it, as he had owned three tanks of fish. Jeehoon even posted on fish forums as a way to learn more information and to sell his specialized fish.

    During one of his forum checkings, Jeehoon discovered that someone was giving away a specific fish he had been searching for in his area. He made arrangements with the seller and went to collect his fish the next day.

    When he arrived at the given address, Jeehoon was surprised by the appearance of a large and expensive looking house. He rang the doorbell and, as Jeehoon explained, “a very good looking man came to the door.” Jeehoon struck by this man’s attractiveness and immediately blurted out, “Wow, you are very handsome!” The man thanked him, and gave Jeehoon his newly acquired fish.

      Upon returning home, Jeehoon realized who the handsome man was, and immediately texted him. As it turned out, the man was actually a famous South Korean actor. Jeehoon wished he’d realized sooner and had gotten a photograph with the man, but instead, he was sworn to secrecy to never give out the man’s phone number. Luckily for the famous actor, Jeehoon keeps his word and only took the fish. 

CP #3 Dana

    Around 10:00 p.m. on a Thursday, Jeehoon joined my group of friends and I on a small trek to Leon Pub from my house. We walked into the smoky bar, claimed a pool table immediately, and ordered a bunch of beers.

    Jeehoon was so excited. There were just so many beers for him to choose from. I helped narrow down the list for him and he surprisingly ordered a Left Hand Milk Stout, luckily loving the beer. We played a couple rounds of pool, which we were all completely horrid at, laughed, and joked around. Jeehoon thought my younger sister was especially hilarious.

     While playing darts, Jeehoon spoke about the drinking culture in South Korea. He said that when he would go out with friends, it was always a competition to see who could buy the most drinks for the group. Or, it would be expected that one member of the friend group would take his or her turn paying for all of the fun. Loads of money would be spent, and more often than not, they would get rather trashed.

     He definitely liked the way Americans went out, thinking of only needing to pay for themselves, or maybe one other person. And he loved the vast variety of beer. Leon Pub was very much a success. 

CP #2 Dana

    We were back at Black Dog, sitting outside and sipping coffees. Jeehoon ordered your average Americana black coffee. I ordered an unknown concoction created by the current barista hanging around behind the bar. I don’t have a coffee preference. I enjoy the surprise of flavors. After telling Jeehoon this, he said that people would do the same thing at the Baskin Robbins he worked at in South Korea.

   Working as a student in South Korea is extremely rare. However, Jeehoon wanted the experience and of course, the money. The particular Baskin Robbins he worked at held three full stories and was considered to be extremely famous. He had even managed to take the orders of a variety of South Korean celebrities, including movie stars. I was amazed. Baskin Robbins was most definitely not nearly as exciting in the United States. I couldn’t even think of anything comparable in the U.S.

  Somehow our conversation drifted to drinking life in Tallahassee. He had unfortunately experienced the Strip, so I decided to enlighten him on the better and varying bars within this city. Needless to say, we made plans to meet up at Leon Pub.

CP #1 Dana

      I met my conversation partner for the first time at Black Dog Café. Apparently he is a large fan of coffee, so when I suggested to Jeehoon that we should try out Black Dog, he was all for the idea.

      Jeehoon is from South Korea, studying computer science, and has nearly impeccable English. I was immediately impressed by his speech, and our conversation flowed smoothly. We began by talking about the educational differences between South Korea and the United States.

      I informed him that I wanted to teach English abroad and South Korea was on my list of countries. He told me I could make a lot of money in South Korea, especially if I worked in Gangnam, where he used to live. There, everyone spends exorbitant amounts of money on a child’s education.

     The students, he said, would be very attentive and willing to learn. However, they are extremely competitive and only learn for the tests. I will have difficulty with students who only want to learn the rules as opposed to actually learning how to speak, read, listen, and write.

    He wasn’t a fan of the education system at all. He enjoys how we teach in the U.S. far more, believing that it leaves room for creativity and a more well rounded knowledge of a subject. I found his opinion to be very interesting, considering the stereotypes of education in Asian countries.

    We left Black Dog, whose coffee he thoroughly enjoyed, and arranged to meet up again at the coffee house the next week. 

CP #5 Jordan

Later on Thanksgiving break Husain and I met at my apartment to hangout. He was telling me about his goal to work in his home of Oman or in the Emirates or Qatar where he used to work. He described to me the importance of an American bachelors or Masters degree. Husain told me that he will instantly get management level job with his degree once he returns to the Middle East. I was curious what program he wanted to go into. He thinks that computer science or engineering will get him a job. We then spoke about what I wanted to do. I told him I just want a job in which I can use what I learned in my during my time attaining my degree. I told him if I got a job outside of my degree field I would be happy but also disappointed that my degree would just be a piece of paper and an ostentatious show of my education.

CP #4 Jordan

Husain and I met at my apartment for Thanksgiving and while I didn't make Turkey that day, I did make lasagna. I can't remember why I chose to make that dish instead of Turkey. We did discover that pumpkin pie and lasagna complimented each other. After eating we watched some football on my computer. About a quarter through the Detroit Lions game Husain said that he did not want to watch it anymore. Apparently he isn't much of an American football fan. I asked if he liked movies and we ended up watching the internship, which was pretty funny. I tried to explain the situations and the expressions being used in the film. Husain was curious if the offices of google in the film were the same as those in real life. I personally had no idea. After the film I took my roommates car to drop Husain off at his apartment. and we ended up hanging out more over Thanksgiving break.

CP #3 Jordan

Husain and I met at our semi-regular meeting place, sweet shop a couple of weeks ago. He was preparing a short presentation about hipsters, a subject that I helped expose him to, documented in an earlier blog. We were speaking about what we planned on buying on Black Friday. Husain wanted to get a new computer and smart phone. He had told me that he was going to get a samsung smart phone for free but he didn't have a social security number. I said even if you did, never give that number to anyone. After explaining the importance of the social security number, we got some coffee and spoke about how he felt after the ILETs test. He was confident that he did well and I think he did well also. It looks like he will go to school at FIU or some schools in Santa Barbara, California. I told him it was expensive to live in California but probably really nice.    

TA #5 Dana

   I had observed the class before this, error correcting and helping out as usual, when Felicia asked me to teach class the following day. She was able to get through half of an essay lesson and wondered if I would be able to finish the essay and teach how to write the second body paragraph as well as conclusion. I took home the class’s partially written essays to grade.

    When I arrived the next morning, I attempted to set up the camera in order to film my class. It didn’t work, just like in the last class I taught. But time was running by so I had to teach anyways. The Bell Ringer question for the day was, “What is a thesis statement?” Since the class had just worked on their introductory paragraphs the day prior, I wanted them to recall and reiterate what they had just learned.

    Once the class understood the definition of a thesis state, we reviewed what we had worked on the day before. I asked the students what the essay topic was, what the example essay included, and where we left off. The students were very enthusiastic when answering the comprehension questions. Then I wrote out the next body paragraph on the board. I read it out loud and asked the students to split into groups. “Discuss with your partners what you like about this paragraph. What do you not like? How can you change the paragraph? Does the paragraph have a topic sentence?”

      The students were given 2 minutes to discuss, and then as a class, we edited the paragraph together. After this, they were given five minutes to write out their own second body paragraph. I walked around the room and gave corrections. Next we discussed the conclusion and wrote the dance conclusion together as a class. Finally, the students wrote their conclusion for their own papers.

      I collected their papers and graded them that evening. The next day I taught another class completely on my own, acting as a substitute teacher for Felicia.  

TP #5 Jordan

In our final tutor meeting, Husain and I had an easy reading day where it was ultra extensive reading. I found an article about the economy of the United States from the BBC. We read it and discussed the aspects of the article. I opened the the conversation with if he thinks that the economy is going to get better. He replied that if America's foreign relationships get better then the economy could rebound. The most intriguing part of the conversation was if we both thought congress was doing a bad job. We both agreed that the American political system needs work. After the conversation we decided to go to the bar and watch the Alabama-Auburn game.

TP #4 Jordan

Husain and I met at my apartment last week and we again focused on reading under a time limit. I brought an academic book and I gave him a limit of five minutes per page. I added a bonus section where we discussed the meaning of the page. This was an effort to establish a dialogue and work on speaking and presenting what we read. The topic of Saudi Arabian oil politics. While we did engage in some debate on the future of the US-Saudi relationship, it did digress into a goofy conversation.Unfortunately, we didn't recover from this digression, but these sessions of timed reading has helped Husain immensely.  

TP #3 Jordan

Husain and I met at my apartment on Thanksgiving for tutoring and hangin' out. I didn't have any easy reading for him only rigid and dense academic reading. I decided to help him read the book that even proved difficult for me to read. I worked with him to read each page and focus on different vocabulary that was complex yet commonly used. He had difficulty with this book, I tried to help but instead we invested the rest of our tutoring session on learning vocabulary. I introduced a game where he would have to state the meaning and then say it in a sentence in under thirty seconds.

TP #2 Jordan

On this day Husain and I again continued to work on reading for the main idea. We met again at the sweet shop for coffee and to continue working on reading in a time limit. I brought another book and this time we instead of the time limit we focused on reading for accuracy in order to understand the entire passage. I began to notice the progress that he was making. It seemed that he was becoming more comfortable and taking it slow which was good. What he didn't know though is that I was secretly timing him. I still haven't told yet. He was averaging just over five and a half minutes per page. I tried not to have him look up words and instead focus on the overall passage and engage in extensive reading.

TP #1 Jordan

Husain and I met at the sweet shop to work on reading. Mostly all of our tutoring session shave been about reading for the main idea and accuracy. This is Husain's most underdeveloped skill. During this session I brought a book from the library about politics. We practiced by reading a page at a time in under 5 minutes. Reading with a time limit focused on distinguishing important facts from superfluous fillers. Husain had trouble at first with this activity due to the time limit. I explained that don't worry abut the time limit and read what you feel is important. The importance of a passage is in the supporting details and the topic sentence. These are aspects that we had reviewed previously. We worked on the this skill more in later meetings.

TA #5 Jordan

Today was presentation day for the students. They presented on a wide array of subjects from football to New Years Day. I was offered to help grading with Candace and it was interesting grading their presentations. The rubric was based on organization, pronunciation, time, visual display, vocabulary and grammar usage. The first student Neto, was presenting on New Years Day. His presentation flowed well and with the exception of slight pronunciation trouble, his presentation was exceptional. In comparison of notes we agreed on every aspect with the exception of pronunciation. Comparing notes was very good because I saw how strict she graded. She explained that group one needed to be graded very leniently. The second presenter that I graded, Saif. He was unprepared due to personal matter. He presented on hip hop dancing. His pronunciation was excellent as well as his usage of vocabulary. The most detrimental factor was his organization. If he was able to be more prepared his presentation would have been excellent. Learning to grade presentations was the most valuable lesson that I learned in the class. How to be lenient while also holding a high standard.

TA #4 Jordan

This past Tuesday I attended Candace Walter's speaking class. Unfortunately it was another day where the students were taking a test in the computer room. These test days are interesting to attend due to the interesting experience of watching her conduct a test. On that day the students were describing which holidays they like the most and why. I also had to help students fill out teacher evaluations. The students needed help with certain words like least and certain. For some reason tests are most likely scheduled on a Tuesday which is one of two days each week that I am able to attend. I do enjoys seeing how to manage a class on test day especially when their are other classes in the testing center.

TA #4 Dana

    I had assisted Felicia with a few more classes before my teaching debut, observing the way she conducted class, answered questions, and of course, taught material. Now it was my turn to teach. Felicia suggested that I perform a class on creative writing.

    Considering the fact that the students in Composition 1 hadn’t yet written a whole simplified essay in one sitting, let alone a full story, I felt slightly uneasy about choosing a creative writing topic. Poetry seemed too difficult with its strange rules, rhythms, syllables, and perhaps rhyming. A story felt too overwhelming. After much thought, I remembered a fun activity that I used to do when I was a kid. Mad Libs.

    With its silly story quality and fill in the blank actions, students would be able to understand a simple story while utilizing their knowledge of grammar while they filled in blanks. The students would also be able to hear how certain words sounded perfectly ludicrous within their context while others surprisingly made sense.

     I began the class with a Bell Ringer. “What is creative writing? Discuss with your partner.” By asking this question, I wanted to discover how much the class knew about creative writing. Once their three minutes of discussion were up, I led the class in a small conversation concerning creative writing. “What is creative writing? Can a song be creative writing? What about a poem? What is a poem?” A few students understood creative writing immediately, while others needed more explanations and examples.

      Soon after, I pulled out the first Mad Lib. I only told the class that it was a fun activity I used to do as a kid, called a Mad Lib. I called out to the class, asking for a verb, adjective, noun, and so on. The students would get excited, experimenting with less used words, even throwing Felicia into one of the noun blanks.

      I read the completed Mad Lib out loud. It was interesting seeing the students’ reactions as they began to unravel the reason for the word choices and laughed loudly when Felicia was finally mentioned. Next I passed out separate Mad Libs per each group of three. The groups had ten minutes to fill out the Mad Libs by asking their group members. Once they finished, they shared their “stories,” with their group.

      For the final activity, the students were told to write their own Mad Libs. They were given ten minutes, however most of them finished the writing process quicker and jumped into filling in the blanks. I walked around the room, error corrected, and answered a few Mad Libs for fun. Everyone understood the concept very well, placing an adjective blank in the correct position, and a noun just as accurately. The stories were very silly, just as they should be.

        At the end of the class, Felicia told me that I did a very good job while complimenting my Mad Lib idea. She even said that she’d use it in future classes! I haven’t received the rest of my comments from Felicia. We’ll meet in a week or so. However, they seem to be positive. 

TA Week #5 Madison

This was my last week as a TA, and looking back I can say that I definitely enjoyed the experience. During Tuesday's class Mrs. Debbie talked to the students about Mondagreens, and we listened to Mondagreens- looking at both the real lyrics and the lyrics we think we hear. Then she told the students to bring in a Mondagreen from their own language for the next class. During class today the students first took notes on a recording about the man who wrote Jingle Bells. Then the students did a cloze dictation on Jingle Bells. Afterwards the students filled out their teaching evaluation of Mrs. Debbie, then of course it was picture time. I took pictures of the class and they invited me to the international dinner which I'm looking forward to going to tomorrow night at 6! After class today Mrs. Debbie gave me an evaluation on my teaching. It was mostly positive; however, she did give me the critique that I should be a bit more prepared for when I actually start teaching. She recommended maybe next time adding in another power point for key football figures at FSU like Famous Jameis for visual aids rather than just a power point for vocabulary.

TA #3 Dana

   This particular class began with a Bell Ringer, as usual. The Bell Ringer read, “With a partner, answer the following questions. What is a topic sentence? What is a thesis statement?” I like how Felicia reiterates what the students are learning by allowing them to refresh their minds right when they walk in. It prepares them for the rest of the class and gives them a hint into what they will be working on.

   We had moved on from topic sentences and thesis statements and began working on paragraphs. She reminded the students of important information to pay attention to while writing, such as capitalization, punctuation, and word order. Felicia wrote the topic, “Weather,” on the board, and the students brainstormed. Next, they chose two topics and wrote two paragraphs. The paragraphs included one topic sentence and at least three sentences.

    While the students wrote, I walked around the class and corrected errors. They were getting better, however they were still having some difficulty staying on topic. The next step was for the students to write a thesis statement that connected the two paragraphs. I thought it was interesting how Felicia had ordered this learning process, having the students work backwards. Soon, the students were writing out an introduction with help from a model written by Felicia.

    After the paragraphs were written, the students switched papers with their partners. Through peer correction, the students underlined the thesis statement, topic sentences, and discussed with their partner whether or not they thought the paragraphs made sense.

     I thought that this activity definitely helped. Locating the main points in another individual’s work cemented ideas and allowed the students to practice using their newly acquired writing knowledge. 

TA #2 Dana

    During my second classroom observation with Felicia, I noticed a jump from the last class I viewed. When I took a seat, I glanced at the Bell Ringer for the day. “Take out a sheet of paper and prepare to write!” it read. Felicia greeted everyone with a warm smile and began the class at 10:00 a.m. on the dot.

   She drew a circle on the board and wrote, “Health,” in the middle. In clear and modified speech, Felicia announced to the class, “I would like you to brainstorm this topic. You have three minutes!” She wandered around the room as the students scribbled out their webs. Once the timer went off, Felicia spoke again.

    “Now that you have brainstormed. Choose one topic and write a topic sentence. But first, what is a topic sentence?” After the class discussed the definition and purpose of a topic sentence, Felicia gave the class two minutes to write. Errors were corrected, and then we moved onto the next section, the thesis statement.

     I noticed that Felicia explains the writing concepts very clearly, always modeling as well as asking the students for their ideas. The class is also extremely comfortable with Felicia. They do not feel nervous when receiving her corrections, actually handing her their papers as she walks by. It was nice. I remember despising French corrections while I was in class.

    Soon I was pulled into correct sentences and paragraphs. I was very slow, spending time as I thoroughly combed the sentences, asking questions, and hoping to get the right answers. I have since then noticed that I spent too long with each student. I have to remember not to nit-pick beginner’s writings. 

TA #1 Dana

    I had not observed a class by Felicia before I asked her to become my mentor. She was teaching Composition however, and having heard that it was one of the most difficult subjects to teach, decided to throw myself in headfirst. I met up with Felicia for a quick discussion concerning my TEFL requirements as well as TA duties, and then I was set to sit in for class the coming Monday.

    Felicia teaches Composition 1, with this portion of the class being Composition 1 Part B. The students had learned during the first section of the class how to write basic sentences. Now they were working on compound sentences, which would later lead to paragraphs, and finally, a full-fledged four-paragraph essay.

     I took a seat and noticed that Felicia had written a “Bell Ringer,” on the board. A Bell Ringer is Felicia’s form of class warm up. Below it she placed her “Agenda,” stating in three simple bullets what we would be covering in class that day. For this particular class, the students were able to have fun with a Halloween story activity.

     Felicia had written the sentence, “One dark night I heard noises coming from my closet. I opened the closet door and…” Each student took out a sheet of paper and wrote as many compound sentences as they could in the span of three minutes and continued the story. After the three minutes were up, the students passed their papers to the person on their right. Three minutes more, and the next student added their own compound sentences to the new story. This continued until the original paper was returned to its owner. Felicia walked around the room performing error corrections and answered questions while the stories were being written.

     The stories of course turned out quite silly. The students laughed or shook their heads as they read the added sentences, thinking that their peers wrote such ridiculous details. I felt as though it was a fun activity that allowed the students to practice while learning from their peers. Next class, I would be correcting errors along with Felicia. 

TP #5 Madison

Today I tutored Matthew, and the beginning of our session was quite awkward. He wanted to sit at a table near his brother, but his mom told him to go to the other side of the library. He ended up throwing a fit (he's only in third grade) until his mom let us switch tables. Luckily his mom was there so I didn't have to be the disciplinarian; however, I still felt quite awkward. I guess when you are working with kids they can be quite unpredictable and sometimes maybe it's best to let them win some of the smaller battles. After that, the rest of our session went fairly smoothly as everything went back to normal. He read, then wrote his summary, I edited it while he did his math homework, then I quizzed him on his spelling words, and he did his FCAT reading comprehension homework. To conclude our session I taught him a quick lesson on pronouns and irregular plural nouns. However, I didn't have any activities planned for him unfortunately. Afterwards, I helped explain why he got answers wrong on one of his old math assignments, I don't think he fully understood the directions the first time he did it.

TP#5 -- Stephanie

Our last tutoring session was shorter than our normal  1- 1:30 sessions because the two ladies were leaving to go out of town for Thanksgiving break.  It was Tuesday after all,  and they were leaving within a few hours.  (I also didn't want to be too late to my TEFL II class.) Hamad was attending some sort of conference and was not at school that day.

We skipped timed speaking practice with the cell phone recorders--nobody had the patience or attention span to handle that anyway.  Besides, the break room was abuzz with other students and constant outside interruptions -- "Do you want to attend a CIES TEFL class now???".  And both ladies really wanted to play some serious Taboo in order to settle some old scores between them.   It started out just the 3 of us, but before long, everyone in the room was playing along with us.  It was almost too much to keep up with at times, but the public audience was a nice way to gauge their English amid outside distractions.  Today, Banshe was better at giving clues, but Linxshi was almost too distracted to give good guesses.  One card that I will never forget is "egg".  Banshe asked Linxshi "where are chickens from", but Linxshi heard "where are you from" and blurted out "China!!".  The entire room roared with laughter.  She enjoyed the humor of the situation, but since the error was so public, Linxshi became much more focused on the game, causing her initial choppy speech patterns to smooth out into something much more fluid. It was also interesting to see her English get the point that she could be speaking in the game and simultaneously interrupt herself to tell off-color English remarks to her observing friends.  Then she'd return to the game exactly where her last sentence left off.  This was a remarkable improvement to her public speaking ability from when we first met.

In total, they each played about 15-20 cards, then we spent time reviewing the errors that I had written down while they were speaking.  Most of the errors this time were rather minor.  I showed them how to rephrase awkward phrases or pointed out a few issues with plural subjects paired with a singular verb and vice versa.  After all this, I had them spend several minutes telling me in detail, what they planed to do over the holidays.  I would parrot back their errors until they self-corrected themselves or I'd give a much more involved explanation if they couldn't figure it out on their own.  Anyway, I've noticed that this detailed speaking is a good activity to do following Taboo.  Taboo causes them to speak very quickly, to access and recall stored information.  However, I want them to notice that more involved speaking, for example describing a multi-day vacation, requires them to slow down a notch or two and shift their focus to accurate, clear pronunciation and to use more complex, complete grammar patterns.  What's interesting is that I am noticing their vocabulary is larger after they have played Taboo.  I believe it is because of all the practice they've had accessing and recalling under pressure what they already knew but weren't consciously aware of.  (If that even makes sense??) Hmmmm.   Oh well, I didn't get to do that last timed speaking with them, but I did get to watch them play a loud, fast and furious English game without embarrassment in front of their friends, which to me, says a lot about how much more confident and comfortable they are with speaking English.  Or maybe it just says they aren't as afraid of making mistakes anymore.  :)

TA Week #4 Madison

Last Tuesday I had the privilege of teaching my second ESL class ever, and my first listening class. As expected I was a bit nervous when I first started, but I settled in quickly and found my rhythm. I taught the students about American Football. To begin with what seemed as if it was a daunting task.....since there are so many rules to football. I started with a song celebrating our school spirit and football team. The song was called 'Gold and Garnet' and is a remix from the original 'Black and Yellow.' The song is a rap song so I knew that it would be very difficult for my students to understand, but I still wanted to play it so they could try to catch some vocabulary words like Tennessee street, Tallahassee, Gold and Garnet, spear, etc. After the song I went over some football vocabulary terms with the class. I made a powerpoint so the class had visual aids to refer to. Then the students completed a short clozed dictation about football. After the dictation I told them some of the famous figures associated with FSU football like Jameis and Bobby Bowden. Then I taught them the war chant.....which they were less than enthused about. That concluded my lesson, and then we all ate the pumpkin pie that Mrs. Debbie brought! :)

TA#5 -- Stephanie

It's the last week of CIES and everything is getting faster and faster it seems.  All my CIES classes are filled with students and teachers, all trying to simply keep their heads above water.  In Listening Class, students are evaluating the teacher, studying for the final exam, turning in every last assignment, and finally, struggling to get through this one and only academic listening passage of the term.  The teacher, for her part, is having to keep one step ahead of them--in four different classes that are all in the same boat.  From my perspective, it's daunting.  And incredibly exciting. It must be Hell trying to get through enough semesters and/or years until the ending chaos of it all hardly even catches your notice, yet that is exactly the place where all my CIES teachers are now.  One day, God willing, that will be me doing the incredible job I've seen them all do this term.  I just have to remember that they were all once as green an untried as I am.

 Like language learning, teaching (for me, as I've come to understand it) is also a process that takes time and commitment, time and commitment, and even more time and commitment.  If anything, I think that's the most valuable thing I have learned out of this entire TA process.  Likewise, giving up at any point along the path is not possible if you still want to obtain your goal.  All to often, we humans think we can have it all / do it all overnight.  I mean, isn't that what TV and the movies tell us? But it's not true...and it shouldn't be true.  Teaching someone is a powerful thing.  Hopefully, we will all be able to mold someone or help someone find --and commit to-- the path to get them to their goal.  (And hopefully many, many 'someones'.) For many students overseas, the ability to logically and financially use their new command of English is the difference between getting a great job and getting a ok job.  In some countries, that could be the difference between having an enjoyable life or merely surviving. It's for this reason that I'm glad learning to teaching, and learning to be a better teacher, is a process that requires so much from us.  How else could we realize what we are doing is so special and potentially can mean so much to so many people?  Overnight success would only alienate us from our student's struggles.  For me anyway, it's my very struggle --the challenge-- that keeps me interested and keeps me here.  This is what I learned as a TA this term. 

Today I taught the doctorial students in Dr. Grill's ITA American Pronunciation class how to play Taboo.  Not just how to play the game, but why I can't say enough about it's ability as a language game to teach a second language learner valuable and practical  recall skills and, more importantly,  how to talk around a problem such as limited vocabulary.  The students liked it so much that it was difficult getting them to stop.  :)  Dr. Grill was so impressed by them that she is now going to try and buy her own set so she can introduce all her classes to it. Yes, many of the students need English for future jobs, but let's be real, you need to be able to have fun with your new language if you are going to keep using it.

Tomorrow I will continue to work with Victoria to craft the final exam for Listening, assuming of course, that I succeed in finding a suitable YouTube clip tonight for the dictation part of the exam.  I will also work with Alex to grade the Speaking Presentations which are acting as their finals.  This will be a huge challenge because I'll have to grade the Speaking Presentations using my archenemy the rubric.  No worries, the struggle is only going to remind me of what the students are also going through.  At any rate, I've learned that time and commitment can overcome just about anything.  Even rubrics....I hope.   :)



   

TP #5 Dana

      As was requested by my tutees, I brought forth as much information as I could think of concerning research papers. Before we delved into the depths of paper writing, I asked Ivy and Ariel how research papers were written in China. They explained that papers had an introduction and conclusion as well as numbers and highlighted or bold words. The numbers and stylized words were important portions of the paper. In response, I provided the similarities of an American research paper as well as the differences with the Chinese. They were shocked but very interested to learn.

       Research paper writing is a subject that has been drilled into the average American student’s brain since the ninth grade, which in many cases, were slowly perfected throughout high school and into college. Therefore, I had to simplify the subject as much as I possibly could in order to not overwhelm my tutees.

       I began with the topic. This in itself can be the easiest and hardest step in paper writing. I explained how teachers differ in their ways of assigning a topic. Sometimes they hand out a list to choose from or leave the topic extremely open ended. However, the most important decision is to make sure the topic interests you in some way. This will allow you to stay focused on your assignment and propel your research.

     Next we discussed the introductory paragraph, thesis statements, topic sentences, as well as supporting details. Ivy and Ariel understood much of this right away. It was very similar to the papers they write in class. In order for them to get a feel of research papers, I let them look at a few of my own. They were amazed by their length, footnotes, and bibliography.

     I had chosen two different research papers on purpose to display the differences in writing styles. These in particular depicted MLA and Chicago. I explained how certain papers and classes required specific citation styles. Footnotes and citing were explained in detail followed by a number of questions. I did tell them though that they didn’t have to worry about remembering all of the rules for every style. Cheat sheets were online.

    Finally I showed them how to conclude their papers, ending with a bibliography. It was a lot of information to soak in all at once, so I emailed Ivy and Ariel a list of research paper steps, helpful websites, and my own papers for them to refer to as models. And of course, they are always welcome to email me if they have any questions.

TP #4 Dana

       For most of our tutoring sessions, Takuya and I have been focusing on speaking. This particular meeting was actually the first time I’ve introduced reading into our learning repertoire. It was also the filmed tutoring session.

        I thought he did very well, considering the level of reading that I chose for him. Since his level of speaking and listening is actually quite good, it’s difficult for me to pin point reading material that is not too hard or overly simple. After watching the session again, I think the material was too advanced for him. However, after asking questions and working through the context clues he was able to understand the main gist of the reading passage. This is what I was hoping for, an understanding of the main idea as opposed to pulling apart the reading in order to figure out every word’s meaning.

      There were a few instances where I had trouble finding a way to hint towards the meaning of a word or phrase without just straight up telling him. In those cases I think I need to give myself some time to work up an accurate answer instead of telling him immediately.

       I was however, wondering if I’m asking too many questions while going over the reading. For example, asking questions such as “Why? How did that happen? Who is this character?” and so on. I feel as though the questioning helps him decipher the reading and reminds him to think of these items as he reads.

        Yet, perhaps I should give him the questions before he reads? Or maybe a list of questions should be given to him to answer as he reads? What if I incorporated a mixture of both? It’s something I need to analyze.

TP #3 Dana

     I met up with Ivy and Ariel during this tutoring session in order to perform a speaking diagnostic with them. Our tutoring sessions have mainly consisted of speaking exercises, topics, and activities. The first three questions were written so that the two of them could discuss their answers together. I wanted to see how they held a conversation in English. Each question was recorded within a certain time frame.

      After the discussion questions had been answered, Ivy and Ariel were given a list of six more questions to choose from. They were to choose three out of the six and answer the questions individually. I did this so that the girls would be able to think for themselves. Answering the same questions allow them to piggyback off of one another’s answers. In a conversation, that is alright, it sometimes allows the conversation to keep flowing. However, I still wanted to hear how quickly and accurately each girl was able to formulate her own opinion.

       Both Ariel and Ivy answered the final question individually. This question asked what they believed their strengths and weaknesses in English were as well as what they would like to work on. It was a question meant to help them analyze their own English progress while aiding me as I plan their future lessons.

       Ivy and Ariel enjoyed the questions as it acted as a form of quiz in their eyes. Next time we will work on how to formulate a research paper though. They have formally requested my help concerning this subject.